I Wonder What "Melancholy" is in Irish?

Hello there, internet. 

So I wasn't sure what I was going to talk about today, but then a friend texted me and I knew what I should write.

This June, I am going to Dublin, Ireland for grad school. One of the features of my creative writing program is that it brings its students to Ireland each June. Last year we went to Sligo, home of W. B. Yeats, and while this year we're headed to Dublin. I've been before, but even so, I am excited to be going back. The trip is going to be bittersweet as well, though. It's my last residency, you see, which means that after this June, I won't be seeing my Carlow colleagues again (at least, not through school, anyway). And these people aren't just my colleagues and fellow writers, they are my friends. But they hail from all over. I live in Georgia now, but who knows where I'll end up? In any case, I'll see them in Ireland, but only for a few weeks.

It's funny, I remember my very first residency in Pittsburgh. I got to the hotel the school was putting out of town students in and was so nervous about my first day of class. But the people I met were so warm and welcoming. By the end of the two weeks I'd spent with them, I was so many friends the richer. Also at the end of that residency was the final dinner. It was delicious. We went to the Monterrey Bay Fish Grotto and I had the best salmon--Rodi grilled with a honey-lime glaze--than I have ever had in my entire life. (It haunts me.) After dinner, the fourth-residency students did their final readings, readings from their thesis manuscript. It occurred to me yesterday that my final reading will be at the end of this upcoming residency. What will I read? I skimmed through my manuscript today, and I haven't found anything I'm psyched about yet, but I still have some time.

Still, it seems weird. I'm sure that I'll be extremely nervous, too. Hell, I got nervous this past residency on behalf of my friends, and I didn't have to *do* anything. I'm just glad the final dinner won't be in Pittsburgh. I doubt I'll actually be able to eat anything before I read. 

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to spending time with my friends and Ireland, as well as meeting the newbies. I hope they like the program as much as I do. I'm certainly going to miss it once it's gone...